Caspases and Regulators

R&D Systems offers many tools designed to study Caspases and the proteins that regulate their activity. Our products include Caspase activity assays and ELISAs, active proteins, and a wide selection of Caspase antibodies for both the pro and active forms of the enzyme. Cell-permeable and irreversible peptide Caspase inhibitors are also available.

Caspases are a family of cytosolic aspartate-specific cysteine proteases well known for their primary roles in the initiation and execution of apoptosis. Human Caspases can be subdivided into three functional groups: cytokine activation (Caspase-1, -4, -5, and -13), apoptosis initiation (Caspase-2, -8, -9, -and -10), and apoptosis execution (Caspase-3, -6, and -7). They are regulated by many molecules including APAF-1, FLIP, ARC, and members of the inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) family such as NAIP/BIRC1, cIAP-1/BIRC2, cIAP-2/BIRC3, XIAP/BIRC4, Survivin/BIRC5, and Livin/BIRC7. The mitochondrial proteins SMAC/Diablo or HTRA2/Omi in turn can modulate IAP activity.